Dynamic antiresonant vibration isolator



May 20, 1969 w. G. FLANNELLY 3,445,080

DYNAMIC ANTIRESONANT VIBRATION ISOLATOR Filed May 26, 1967 Sheet of a g s j i z 7/ ,r/ i

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INVENTOR. WILLIAM G. FLANNELLY Wi ard/Maw ATTORNEYS y 0, 1969 w. G. FLANNELLY 3,445,080

DYNAMIC ANTIRESONANT VIBRATION ISOLATOR Filed May 26, 1967 Sheet 2 of 3 4 to Q A5 b I ALFIIGISSIWSNVHJ.

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United States Patent 3,445,080 DYNAMIC ANTIRESONANT VIBRATION ISOLATOR William G. Flannelly, South Windsor, Conn., assignor to Kaman Corporation, Bloomfield, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed May 26, 1967, Ser. No. 641,540 Int. Cl. F161? /04 US. 'Cl. 248 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A vibration isolator is disclosed for reducing the transmission of vibratory and shock forces from an excited base to an isolated item. The isolator is a passive system wherein spring forces are counteracted by inertia forces to produce a high degree of isolation at certain frequencies of vibration with low static deflection. An intermediate member is located between the base and the isolated item and is connected to the isolated item by a spring and damper. Between the intermediate member and the base is another spring and damper and an inertia system including an auxiliary mass which is moved relative to both the intermediate member and the base in response to relative movement of the latter two parts.

Background olf the invention This invention relates to vibration isolators, and deals more particularly with a passive vibration isolator consisting primarily of a system of springs, masses and dampers arranged to produce a substantially zero or very low transmissibility of vibratory forces or displacements thereacross at a tuned, or antiresonant, frequency, usually a relatively low frequency, and to also produce a desirably reduced transmissibility over a relatively wide range of frequencies.

Part of the vibration isolator of this invention is somewhat similar to that shown and described in my copending application Serial No. 408,543 filed Nov. 3, 1964, now Patent No. 3,322,379, and entitled Dynamic Antiresonant Vibration Isolator, the isolator of this invention being one which in general has improved high frequency vibration isolation characteristics in comparison to the latter device.

Summary of the invention This invention resides in a passive vibration isolator connected between a vibrating base and an isolated body for reducing the transmission of vibratory forces and displacements from the base to the body. The isolator includes an intermediate member between the body and the base. Between the base and the intermediate member, it includes an auxiliary mass and spring system dynamically excited by the vibrations of the base. Between the intermediate member and the isolated body is a spring and damper system. A damper may also be included between the vibrating base and the intermediate member.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a vibration isolator embodying this invention.

FIG. 2 is a series of curves showing the effect of various values of damping on the operation of a vibration isolator such as shown in FIG. 1 and where the parameters of the isolator are so selected that the two resonant frequencies are located on opposite sides of the antiresonant frequency.

FIG. 3 is a series of curves showing the effect of various values of damping on the operation of a vibration isolator such as shown in FIG. 1 and where the parameters of the isolator are so selected that the two resonant frequencies are both located below the antiresonant frequency.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary schematic illustration of a vibration isolator generally similar to that shown in FIG. 1 but with the inertia means consisting merely of a thin inertia bar.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary schematic illustration of a vibration isolator generally similar to that shown in FIG. 4 but with the inertia means connected with the base and intermediate member in such a manner as to produce a positive rather than a negative value of R/ r.

FIG. 6 is a series of curves showing how the devices of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 compare in operation with a conventional spring and mass isolator at very high frequencies.

Description of the preferred embodiments The vibration isolator of the present invention is intended to serve generally the same purpose as the vibration isolator described in my copending application Serial No. 408,543, referred to above. That is, it is intended to be interposed between two bodies, having at least one degree of freedom of movement relative to each other, for the purpose of preventing or reducing the transmission of vibratory displacements and forces from one body to the other body. For the purposes of this description and in the claims which follow the body which vibrates is referred to as the vibratory body or base and the body which is to be statically supported by, or otherwise connected with, the base while nevertheless being isolated from the vibratory movements thereof is referred to as the isolated body.

In accordance with the invention, and as mentioned above, an intermediate member is located between the base and the isolated body and is connected to the isolated body by a spring and damper arrangement. Between the intermediate member and the base is another spring and damper and an inertia system providing an auxiliary mass which is moved relative to both the intermediate member and the base in response to relative movement of the latter two parts to produce an inertia force counteracting the vibratory force. The inertia system and the spring provided between the intermediate member and the base may be arranged generally similarly to the inertia system and spring of the vibration isolator shown in my copending application Serial No. 408,543. The isolator of the copending application, however, approaches a finite value of isolation or transmissibility at high frequencies of vibration and this can be a disadvantage for some applications. The damper provided between the base and the intermediate member, and the spring and damper provided between the intermediate member and the isolated body, as used in the present invention, produce a system which retains the advantages of the previous isolator while at the same time provides a transmissibility which approaches zero at very high frequencies.

In the drawings, FIG. 1 shows the basic form of the isolator of this invention. In this isolator the pivot axes connecting the inertia means to the base and to the intermediate member are so arranged with relation to the center of gravity of the inertia means that the system has what is referred to as a negative R/r value. An isolator generally similar to that of FIG. 1 can be made with a positive R/ r value, as shown for example in FIG. 5. It has been found however that in order to obtain the desired high frequency isolator should, as explained in more detail hereinafter. Preferably have a negative R/r, value, or least should not have an R/r value of greater than plus one. If the R/ r value is greater than plus one the high frequency isolation of the isolator will in all practice configuration be poorer than that of a simple conventional spring-mass isolator.

Turning to the drawings and first considering FIG. 1, the isolated body is shown at 20 and the base at 22. As indicated at the left of the figure the base 22 undergoes a vibratory displacement which may be considered generally sinusoidal in nature and which is represented as Z The isolated body 20 has a mass M; and its displacement is represented as Z As intermediate member 24 is located between the body 20 and the base 22 and has a mass M and a displacement Z Between the 'base 22 and the intermediate member 24 is an inertia means which consists of a rod 26 and 'an auxiliary mass 28. The center of gravity of this inertia means, that is the combined center of gravity of the rod 26 and auxiliary mass 28, is indicated at 30. This inertia means is arranged so as to be moved relative to both the base 22 and the intermediate member 24 in response to relative movement of the base relative to the intermediate member, and for this purpose the rod 26 is pivotally connected to the intermediate member for movement about one axis, indicated at 3'2, and is pivotally connected for movement relative to the base about a second axis, indicated at 34. The two axes 32 and 34 are parallel to and spaced from one another in a direction normal to the axis along which the base 22 moves relative to the body, which is the vertical axis 35 in FIG. 1. The spacing between the pivot axes 32 and 34 is represented as r. The center of gravity 30 of the inertia means is also spaced from the axis 32, and this displacement is represented as R. In the mathematical discussion which follows, and as shown at the bottom of FIG. 1, the vertical axis 35 which passes through the axis 32 is taken as a zero or reference axis and the displacements of the axis 34 and of the center of gravity 30 are measured from this reference axis. Furthermore, the direction in which the center of gravity 30 is displaced from the reference axis 32 is taken as the positive direction. In FIG. 1 the axis 34 and the center of gravity 30 are located on opposite sides of the reference axis 32 and therefore r is negative, giving the isolator a negative R/ r value.

In addition to the base and the intermediate member of FIG. 1 "being interconnected by the inertia means, they are also connected by a set of springs indicated at 36, 36 and a damper 38. The springs 36, 36 statically support the intermediate member 24 and the body 20 when the system is at rest and also cooperate with the inertia element to produce the desired antiresonance. The combined spring constant of the springs between the base "and the intermediate member is represented by the value K and the coeflicient of damping provided by the damper 38 is represented by the value C The intermediate member 24 is connected with the body 20 by a simple spring and damper system which, as shown, consists of a set of springs 40, 40 and a damper 42. The combined spring constant of the springs 40, 40 is represented by the value K and the coefiicient of damping provided by the damper 42 is represented by the value C It should, of course, be understood that in FIG. 1, the various mechanical elements of the isolator have been shown schematically and that in actual practice they may take a wide variety of different forms, the main requirement being that there be elements present which provide the desired values of inertia, spring constant and damping interrelated with one another in substantially the manner illustnated.

The performance of the isolator of FIG. 1 may perhaps be best understood by the following mathematical analysis. The energy equations for the illustrated system can be written as follows:

Kinetic energy:

.4 Dissipation energy:

In Equation 1 0 is the angular displacement of the lever about the axis 34, and it will be observed that and Substituting Equations 4 and 5 in Equation 1, it becomes:

1 1 2 T=M1Z1 M1) [?Zn- -1)Zs] Applying Lagranges equation, the equations of motion become:

Assuming a solution of the form Z=Z e and letting:

es-0e and Using Cramers rule, and solving the above matrix for Z the transmissibility equation is:

Equation- 11 is the characteristic frequency equation of the isolator.

The Transmissibility Equation of the isolator can be nondimensionalized by letting:

where C =2M w and Cc=2M w ,u =M /M (mass ratio of inertia means to isolated mass) p =M /M; (ratio of intermediate mass to is lated m Substituting the above into Equation 10, the transmissibility of the isolator can be written in the following form:

The denominator of the transmissibility equation is the damped natural frequency equation of the isolator. It is seen that if =O (zero damping across the intermediate member 24 and the base 22), damped natural frequencies still occur, and the amplitude at resonance can be controlled. However, in the numerator with one hundred percent isolation can be obtained. Also,

Therefore, the undamped transmissibility equation can be rewritten as:

ing the same overall spring rate as the present isolator then,

=i 2 KS+KD)MI KS+KD s Using the above relationship, Equation 20 can be rewritten as:

A ratio of the transmissibilities are then obtained by dividing the present isolator transmissibility Equation 19 by the equivalent conventional transmissibility Equation 22, resulting in the following equation:

as w/w approaches infinity, the transmissibility approaches zero. Thus, an isolator embodying this invention can be designed to give approximately one hunderd percent isolation at a discrete frequency, have controlled resonant amplitudes, and give high frequency isolation.

Since the isolator of this invention can be designed to give desirable high frequency isolation, an interesting comparison may be made between the high frequency isolation of the present isolator and a conventional springmass system. This comparison is made on the undamped transmissibility equations. The undamped transmissibility equation of the present isolator is:

91 i T (0A2 w M5. (.0 co M 1 (.0 (05 Mrs? Mir; +1 a However,

MA R R p JFI 7) (7%] where:

To compare at very high frequency, divide the numerator and denominator by w /w and let w/w approach infinity. The ratio then becomes:

In order to use this equation for a comparison of the present isolator with at of a conventional spring-mass isloator a simplification may be made 'by considering the inertia means of the present isolator to consist merely of a thin rod as shown in either FIG. 4 or FIG. 5. That is, in FIG. 4 the isolator is the same as that shown in FIG. 1 except that the inertia means of FIG. 1 consisting of the rod 26 and auxiliary mass 28, is replaced by a single rod 44 having a center of gravity 46 located approximately at its midpoint. In FIG. 5 the illustrated isolator is the same as that shown in FIG. 4 except for rod 44 being connected to the base 22 and intermediate member 24 in such a manner to provide a positive r, and accordingly a positive R/ r value. In FIG. it is seen that for a positive value of R/r equal to or greater than 0.5, L=2R, and since for a straight rod p :L/ 12 then for an isolator with a positive R/r equal to or greater than 0.5,

From FIG. 4, it is seen that for values of R/r less than 0.5, L=2 (Rr), and therefore,

R 2 LE1 r 3 in which the actual value and not the absolute amplitude of R/r should be used. Therefore, two equations are obtained from Equation 24.

For positive values of R/r equal to or greater than 0.5 then:

and for values of R/ r less than 0.5 then:

K R R R 2 VHFJ FD) [(r) T r It is seen from the above equations, that at very high frequencies the comparison of the present isolator to an equivalent spring-mass system is primarily a function of the R/ r and K /K ratios. Calculations may be made varying R/r from to -10 and varying the spring rate ratio (K /K from .2 to 5. The results of such calculations are shown in FIG. 6.

It is seen from FIG. 6 that an isolator of this invention may be designed to give much better high frequency isolation than a conventional spring-mass system of equivalent stiffness. However, an R/r value of less than plus one is required and the spring ratio K /K should be as small as possible. That is, the spring rate across the base 22 and the intermediate member 24 should be much stiffer than the spring rate across the intermediate member 24 and the body 20. A positive R/r greater than one will always give high frequency isolation that is less than that of a conventional spring-mass system of the same stiffness.

Depending on values chosen for the various parameters in the design of an isolator embodying this invention one or the other of two general types of response curves may be obtained. FIG. 2 shows one form of response curve (that is a plot of transmissibility versus frequency) and in this curve the antiresonant frequency is located between two resonant peaks. FIG. 3 shows the other general form of response curve and in this curve two resonant peaks are both located below the antiresonant frequency. Generally it has been found that the type of response curve obtained is dependent primarily on the value of R/r. For example, in most of the isolators of this invention investigated up to this time it has been found that the characteristic curve is of the type shown in FIG. 2 when R/r is of some value greater than approximately 0.5, and that the characteristic curve is generally of the type shown in FIG. 3 when the value of R/ r is less than approximately 0.5. FIGS. 2 and 3 show the effects of various different amounts of damping between the intermediate member 24 and the body on the performance of the isolator. FIGS. 2 and 3 also show a comparison of the isolator of this invention with an equivalent isolator of the type shown in my copending application Serial N0. 408,543.

Referring first to FIG. 2, the curves indicated at 48, represent the characteristic curves for an isolator of the present invention operating at different values of damping 3' across the intermediate member 24 and the body 20. The curve 50 represents the characteristic curve of an equivalent isolator of the type shown in my copending application. The isolator represented by the curves 48, 48 is one having zero damping between the base 22 and the intermediate member 24. From FIG. 2 it can be seen, therefore, that at high frequencies of operation, that is at frequencies substantially above the antiresonant frequency (0 the isolator of the present invention has a significantly better isolation capability than the isolator of the previous application. Also, it will be noted that the high frequency performance of the present isolator is generally improved as the damping between the intermediate member and the base is reduced. Below the antiresonant frequency the normal amount of damping 5 which would be used has little effect on the operation of the isolator except in the vicinity of the resonances,- the amplitudes of the resonant peaks being desirably reduced by the damping.

Referring to FIG. 3, the curves 52, 52 of this figure are the characteristic curves of an isolator of the present invention constructed so that the two resonant peaks of the characteristic curves are located below the antiresonant frequency. The curves 52, 52 show the operation of the isolator under different values of damping between the intermediate member 24 and the body 20, the isolator having no damping between the base 22 and the intermediate member 24. The curve 54 represents the performance of an equivalent isolator made in accordance with my copending application Ser. No. 408,543. From FIG. 3 it will be noted again that at very high frequencies, or frequencies substantially above the antiresonant frequency 01,; the isolator of this invention produces a substantially improved isolation in comparison with that of the previous isolator. Also, it will be noted that as the damping between the intermediate member 24 and the body 20 is decreased, the isolation capability is also increased. Below the antiresonant frequency the normal amount of damping g, which would be used has little effect on the performance of the isolator except in the vicinity of the resonances, the amplitudes of the resonant peaks being desirably reduced by the damping.

In connection with both FIGS. 2 and 3, if larger amounts of damping are used, the resonant peaks may be further reduced, but other areas of the curve may be adversely affected by providing less isolation at some frequencies. Nevertheless, it should be particularly noted that for all values of damping a zero transmissibility is produced at one frequency (when there is no damping across the base 22 and intermediate member 24) and therefore the isolator of this invention has the ability to reduce resonant peaks while still producing one hundred percent isolation at one frequency.

I claim:

1. The combination with a body and base of a vibration isolator for connecting said body to said base and for reducing the transmission of vibratory forces and displacements from said base to said body occurring generally parallel to a given reference axis, said isolator including an intermediate member, an inertia means, means connecting said inertia means to said base and to said intermediate member for movement relative to both said base and said intermediate member in response to relative movement between said base and said intermediate member occurring along said reference axis, first spring means between said base and said intermediate member providing a resilient resistance to movement of said base relative to said intermediate member along said reference axis, second spring means between said intermediate member and said body providing a resilient resistance to movement of said intermediate member relative to said body along said reference axis, and a damper means between said intermediate member and said body for producing a force opposing relative movement between said intermediate member and said body occurring along said reference axis in response to such movement, said inertia means including a lever connected with said intermediate member for pivotal movement about a first pivot axis located in a plane generally perpendicular to said reference axis and also connected with said base for piv tal movement about a second pivot axis generally parallel to said first pivot axis, said inertia means having a center of gravity fixed relative to said lever and spaced from said first pivot axis, said inertia means and said first and second pivot axis being further so constructed and arranged that R/ r is less than plus one, where R is the spacing displacement of said center of gravity from said first pivot axis and r is the spacing of said second pivot axis from said first pivot axis, the direction in which said center of gravity is spaced from said first axis being taken as the positive direction.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 further characterized by a second damper means located between said base and said intermediate member for producing a force opposing relative movement between said body and said intermediate member occurring along said reference axis in response to such movement.

3. The combination defined in claim 1 further characterized by said center of gravity of said inertia means being located on the same side of said first pivot axis as said second pivot axis.

4. The combination defined in claim 3 further characterized by said inertia system including an auxiliary fixed to said lever.

5. The combination as defined in claim 1 further characterized by said center of gravity of said inertia means being located on the opposite side of said first pivot axis from said second pivot axis.

6. The combination defined in claim 5 further characterized by said inertia means including an auxiliary mass mass fixed to said lever.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,973,510 9/1934 'Schieferstein 248-358 3,189,303 6/1965 Boothe 24822 3,202,388 8/1965 Goodwin 2488 3,268,419 11/ 1966 Wallerstein 24820 ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner.

J. F. FOSS, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 248358; 267-1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,445 ,080 May 20, 1969 William G. Flannelly It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

Column 2 line 66, after "isolator" insert the isolate-r Column 4, line 64, "he" should read the Column 6, line 67, "at" should read that Column 8, line 1,

"48" should read 48 48 Column 9 line 14 "displace ment" should be cancelled. Column 10, line 5, after "auxiliary" insert mass Column 10, line 15, "mass" should be cancelled.

Column 4 in formula (9) the first expression in brackets should be written in matrix form as follows:

Column 5 in formula (18) the expression m 2 l= should read Signed and sealed this 2nd day of September 1969.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR. Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

